Twice as many people died from opioid overdoses last year in the Roanoke Valley compared to the year before, a Virginia State Police special agent said Thursday.
Special Agent Joe Crowder, with the agency's drug enforcement division, said fentanyl contributed to the increase in fatal and nonfatal overdoses. According to figures he presented to a crowd at William Fleming High School, law enforcement investigated 36 cases of people who died from heroin or prescription opioid overdoses last year in Roanoke, Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton. That's an increase from 13 fatalities in 2016.
Last year, 298 people overdosed but survived, an increase from 125 the year before. Crowder said those numbers gathered by law enforcement are likely lower than the actual number of people who overdosed because sometimes overdoses that rescue agencies deal with or hospitals treat and release aren't factored into the law enforcement data.
